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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24511939">It Started With Summer</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazOfScotland/pseuds/KazOfScotland'>KazOfScotland</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>KCAWS 30 Day Writing Challenge [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Pre-Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:20:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,709</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24511939</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazOfScotland/pseuds/KazOfScotland</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael and Kyle hated each other, but a summer fling started with one angry passionate kiss the summer they graduated from high school</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Michael Guerin/Kyle Valenti, Past Alex Manes/Michael Guerin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>KCAWS 30 Day Writing Challenge [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. All Summer Long</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was the first summer after they had graduated that it happened. Alex and Liz had left pretty much as soon as graduation was over. Liz so as to escape the backlash of Rosa’s death, and Alex, well he left to become a real Manes’ man and join the military. A lot of the kids that they had gone to high school with had left as soon as graduation was over. I mean, who wouldn’t want to leave a small town in New Mexico for the big wide world. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Most people would think that with them being some of the only people left from their class, and with the connections between their groups; if you could call Liz deciding to date Max a connection. Anyway, you would have thought that the two teenagers may have planned to spend the summer hanging out together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But neither had. In fact neither teenager could think of anything worse. Michael didn’t want to spend time with the jock who had been responsible for making Alex’s last year in high school hell. And Kyle, well, he was that jock and he thought that people like Michael were beneath him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The whole situation that they currently found themselves in started with a fight. It had been a week since graduation. Everyone had left except for Maria Deluca, Isobel and Max Evans, Michael Guerin, and Kyle Valenti. Others were probably still in town, but it wasn’t anyone that would be found hanging out at the Crashdown. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Michael had been with Isobel and Max, the trio sat in a booth in the back corner of the Crashdown when the jock had walked in. Thinking back on it, Michael would admit that he reacted rather than thinking of what his actions should be, he just reacted. Before he could stop himself he was forcing Kyle back out the door. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they got to the side of the Crashdown neither of the two could tell you what they or the other had said, but they could tell you that it was passionate and hateful. Michael laid the blame of Alex’s departure on Kyle, and Kyle, he blamed himself, so he took it, and he fought back. He fought back to get a rise from Michael, he fought back because he wanted Michael to make him pay for his actions with Alex. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But then, Michael did something unexpected, something that shocked not only Kyle, but Michael himself. The genius pushed Kyle. Hard. And then he pushed again, and again, until he had Kyle pinned to the wall, and then before either teenager could really think it through, Michael was kissing Kyle until neither of them had enough oxygen in their lungs to continue. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And that was only their first kiss. It kept happening, every couple of days, until eventually as the summer began to draw to a close, Kyle decided that he had to do something about it. Inadvertently, over the course of the summer, the kissing had gone from the passionate hatred for one another fueling them to kiss and make out, to it being passion and a sort of attraction to one another. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It had been an all summer long affair, and Kyle was man enough to admit that he had bullied Alex so no one would suspect that he was gay or attracted to anyone other than women. So now that it was almost over, he and Michael were sitting in the bed of Michael’s beaten up old pickup, the stars bright over the desert, and he didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want to leave Roswell in two days time and that to be the end of his relationship with Michael. He wanted it to continue, for it to be more than an angry summer fling. </span>
</p>
<p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Wake Me Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Follow up to All Summer Long </p>
<p>For the prompt: Wake me up - Avicii</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>University was an escape for Kyle, one that he never realised he needed. Roswell was a small town full of small minded, hateful people, and it wasn’t until the summer that he graduated from high school that he started to realise it. But that first year at University with phone calls back to Michael settled it clear in his mind. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now it was the end of his second summer since he had graduated high school. Again, it was a summer that he and Michael had spent together with little time for anyone else. It had honestly been amazing but being in Roswell had made him feel trapped. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Whenever he or Michael walked through Roswell or spent time together where they could be seen, everyone was staring and judging them. He hated it because he knew what it could be like outside of a small town in New Mexico. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The town of Roswell, and all it’s alien myths and legends, was asleep to the realities of the world. The residents were asleep and it was almost as if they were stuck in the past. But when you left Roswell, it was like waking up. Being gay wasn’t a massive sin and you could hold your boyfriend’s hand without too much fear of Roswell’s special brand of homophobia and racism. A brand known by the name of Jesse Manes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So once summer had come to pass and it was time for him to go back to University, he decided that he wanted to show it to Michael. He wanted to show his boyfriend what it was like to wake up. And that is how they got here. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both men were sat in Michael’s beaten up old pick up. Kyle was driving due to the fact that Michael had worked extremely late into the night at Sanders’ to make sure that all of his work was finished before he left. It was only going to be a week that he was gone, but he hadn’t wanted to leave Sanders with more work to do that necessary. But now he was too tired to even put on his angry cowboy act and threaten Kyle about damaging his pickup. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Instead he just said one sentence, his voice already laced with sleep as he pulled his cowboy hat down to cover his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Wake me up when we reach our new normal.” He wanted this, but he knew for him it would only be temporary. Roswell held all of the answers to his past, but he could enjoy his time in the world that was awake, at least until he had to go back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Cabin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kyle knew exactly where his boyfriend was going to be when he came home to find the place in darkness. It was winter break and Kyle was just happy to get to see Michael. However, he knew it had been tough for Michael recently and as such he had taken to spending time at the Valenti cabin. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kyle suspected that Michael likes how out of the way the cabin was because it meant that he didn’t have to deal with people or socialise. Over the course of the last year and a half since Kyle and Michael had started to date, the former jock had come to realise just how much his boyfriend had missed out on building a relationship with anyone apart from Max and Isobel. It had taken Kyle a while to notice but once he did it was clear how Michael would pull away from people and social contact after more than ten minutes. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kyle dropped his bag inside the door of Michael’s apartment and frowned when he realised that it was possible to hear the people in the apartments on either side of Michael’s. In a lot of ways, Michael spent all day, every day pretending that he was just the same as everyone else, he would pretend that the horrors of his upbringing didn’t exist. At the end of the day, after he had spent all day with the residents of Roswell, Michael wanted to hide away from society. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Kyle has figured that out during the summer just past, he had spoken to his dad, and surprisingly it was Jim who suggested the hunting cabin. It hadn’t been used in a couple of years and it might just be the perfect place for Michael to hide away. The cabin was also the perfect place for them to have some time just for them. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kyle quickly left the apartment and after locking up, made his way back to his car. The hunting cabin was local enough to still be classed as part of Roswell, but was far enough away that it had a sense of freedom and peacefulness. Fortunately, it wasn’t too long a drive out to the cabin. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When Kyle arrived at his father’s hunting cabin, the first thing he saw was his boyfriend lying back on the grass watching the stars despite the snow that was lying. He knew that Michael found a calmness in the vastness of the universe, but he also knew that it wasn’t good for his boyfriend to spend so much time outside in the snow. Michael was in a world of his own so Kyle went to start the fire inside the cabin before  he convinced his boyfriend to come inside. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Forty minutes later found both Michael and Kyle cuddled together under a blanket in front of the roaring fire. Kyle was running his fingers through Michael’s hair as the genius turned angry cowboy filled the pre-med student in on what had happened recently in Roswell. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Pride</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Alex Manes observes Kyle and Michael at Pride and realises his regrets</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It had been eight years since Alex Manes had left Roswell to join the Airforce and honestly in that time he had seen no one from his hometown. He missed those he had been friends with, namely Liz and Maria, but he had no real desire to see anyone else. For Alex, Roswell was nothing more than bad memories and regrets. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Michael Guerin, his high school love who he wished knew the whole truth, was one of his biggest regrets. They had started talking after Michael had taken Alex’s guitar from the music department, and honestly Alex was amazed with how well Michael could play. Soon after they had started to spend time together just playing music. Mihcael didn’t talk much but Alex found himself falling for the wannabe angry cowboy. Two makeout sessions later it all came to a violent end when his father, Jesse Manes, found them together in the tool shed. The man destroyed Michael’s hand to the point that both teenagers knew he would never pick up a guitar again. Michael had tried to talk to him after that night but it was just too much for him to take with his guilt. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>So the only thing that he could do at the time was hide from Michael and then leave without so much as a goodbye. He had wanted to tell Michael that he was sorry for everything and that he would always love him. But he couldn’t. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Over the course of the last eight years Alex had thought alot about seeing Michael again, but he always thought it would be when he went back to Roswell. The small town was the only place that Michael had ever called home, he could remember that much, so the chances of him leaving for more than a couple of days was slim. Meeting his former high school love interest at Pride outside of New Mexico, that was an idea so far into the realm of impossibility that it may as well be in another universe.   </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>But here he was at PrideFest in Denver with a guy he had been seeing on and off for the last year. It was great and he was honestly glad that he was there, having fun and being himself, until he saw the one person he never thought he woul dsee again. Especially not at Pride given how much of a homophobic jackass he had been in High School. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Alex was willing to fully admit that at that exact moment he did a double take and then began to wonder if pigs had started to fly. Kyle Valenti, Kyle Freaking Valenti, his former best friend and later high school bully most definitely should not have been at Pride. Afterall Kyle was as straight as you could get. Hell he used to date Liz for crying out loud. And for some reason, the idea of Kyle being bisexual, just wasn’t one that matched Alex’s image of the man. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>And then it got worse. Just as Alex was about to walk away and go back to his own boyfriend and festivities, the Airman realised who Kyle was there with. And that realisation broke his heart, just a little bit. For as much as he had moved on and afterall he left in Michael in the first place, he still loved him. But seeing Michael with Kyle, at Pride no less, sucked and it hurt. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It hurt because he still wanted Michael, he still loved Michael, he was happy in his life, but he had always hoped that Michael would be waiting for him. But he wasn’t, instead Michael had his arm thrown over Kyle’s shoulder while Kyle leaned back against him, happy. They were both happy, and Alex knew that he had made a mistake. He had left, and now Michael was best friends with Kyle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Summer Nights</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Michael is best friends with Liz, so how do they spend a Summer's Night?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He couldn’t tell you what drew him to become best friends with Liz, but when he saw the movie she had decided that they were watching, he groaned. Grease was not his idea of a good time. He could guarantee that he would be asleep before the movie was over. It was not his idea of a fun summer night, but his husband was working so his idea of fun was not an option. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Michael had to admit that he loved getting to spend time with Liz, especially after everything they had all been through. Sometimes Liz wound him up, especially when she called him ‘Mikey’, but she was always the first of his friends to check in on him. So movie night was a tradition, sometimes it was just him and Liz, sometimes it was everyone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t do well with people but Kyle, his husband, and Liz, his best friend, were the two exceptions to that. Normally during the summer nights they would have movie night on a Saturday, pile a couple of blankets into the bed of his pick-up, and go to the drive-in, because of course Roswell still had one of those in 2018. But the week had been hell for both him and Liz, so neither wanted to face the town. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mikey!” Liz greeted him as he dropped down to sit on the floor of his trailer with his back against the bed where Liz was curled up. “Don’t complain,” she chuckled as she shifted to be able to hug him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He returned the hug but didn’t verbally respond. He knew he didn’t need to. That was the good thing about his friendship with Liz, words weren’t always needed. It was as though they just understood each other. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Several hours later Kyle had finished his shift and despite being exhausted he could not stop the fondness spreading through him when he saw both his husband and Liz Ortecho curled up on opposite ends of the bed. Both were fast asleep and the end credits of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire were playing on the television still. It was most definitely not the first time he had come back to the trailer on movie night to be greeted by this sight, and he doubted it would be the last. But he was actually glad of that fact. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Kyle is away at college, but wishes that he was in Roswell for the first party of the Summer instead.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kyle had to admit that he was not as much of a cowboy as his boyfriend or the others in his hometown. However it was the first weekend of the summer and his college roommate had convinced him to go to a party. He had been to plenty of college parties, but it was different this time. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This time it was the first party of summer and he wanted nothing more than to be at a Roswell party. In Roswell, the first party of summer was held out in the desert, there was always music, beer and a fire. That was what he was missing the most at that moment, sitting next to a fire whilst drinking a beer with his boyfriend. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The music was too loud, the people were too drunk and he had to admit that he wanted nothing more than to be at home. It had been a long semester, and in that time he had managed to see Michael twice. He knew that whilst he was at a college party, Michael and Max would be sitting next to a fire, a couple of beers in their hand, and some country music playing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he was in high school he used to be a stereotypical jock. He was a bully to Alex Manes, and he could party with the best of them. But then the summer that he graduated, he fell in love, and when he fell in love, he changed. Michael made him want to be a better person. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He still partied. He still played football. He was still a jerk. But he wasn’t the same person who hurt those who he loved when he was in high school. This party reminded him way too much of high school Kyle Valenti rather than future Dr. Kyle Valenti. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he had really thought it through, he had pulled his phone out and was making his way out the door. The phone only rang twice before his boyfriend was answering. It wasn’t a Roswell start of summer party, but he knew they would have plenty of nights to spend with music, beers and a fire. But more importantly, he could spend it with Michael. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Marshmallows</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Michael doesn't know what a s'more is! Kyle and Liz are horrified to discover this</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Michael had no idea why his boyfriend and best friend were looking at him in such confusion. It was summer so Kyle was home until the start of the new school year and Liz had snuck back to Roswell so as to check on her dad. It was rare for Michael to get to spend time with both Kyle and Liz especially at the same time, due to them both being out of state for University. But all of that still didn’t answer why two of his favourite ever people were looking at him in confusion. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” he couldn’t stop the laughter as he questioned them, both looked confused and borderline horrified. It annoyed him sometimes when people would look horrified that he hadn’t experienced something. But with Kyle and Liz, it was different, there wasn’t judgement or pity regarding the circumstances of his life. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“S’mores? We live in New Mexico and you’ve never heard of, let alone had, s’mores! How?” Liz was working herself up to one of her passionate rants that always ended with her speaking rapidly in Spanish. “In fact, I know how, you hide from socialising!” She declared before he could respond. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile, Kyle had been finding the deepest amusement in his ex-girlfriend’s rant whilst his boyfriend still appeared confused as to what they were talking about. To be frank, even Kyle was shocked by Michael’s lack of knowledge about s’mores. He couldn’t blame his boyfriend though, it had been the circumstances of his upbringing, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fix it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Right, you two can sort the fire. I’ll be back soon,” He declared as he wormed his wya out of Michael’s hug. It was still early enough for him to get all the supplies to make s’mores. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Michael asked as he shifted the way he was sitting now Kyle had moved. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“To get all the makings of s’mores.” It was obvious what he meant but only if you knew what a s’more actually was. “Crackers, cookies, chocolate and marshmallows.” </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Summer of '69</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max has healed Michael's hand and Kyle finally gets to hear his husband pick up a guitar and play again</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Ten years. Three thousand, six hundred, and fifty two days. That is how long he and Michael had been together, and never once in all of that time had he seen Michael look at a guitar with anything other than anger and hatred. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He could remember sneaking through the music department in high school and hearing Michael playing the guitar. For as mucha s he was a jerk he could admit that then was when he started to notice Michael. But it was high school, and Roswell was extremely homophobic. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now years later, and with Michael’s hand healed by Max, Kyle loved the fact that Michael wasn’t looking at a guitar with hatred. But he had still yet to see the man pick up a guitar. However all he could do was wait and hope that Michael refound that joy. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was a month after Max had healed Michael’s hand when it finally happened. He had just finished a 24 hour shift and instead of driving the shorter distance to their shared home, where he knew his husband would not be, he drove slightly out of two to where he knew his husband’s airstream was parked. When he arrived home, because it was his home in a way too, he wanted to cry. Yes he was slightly emotional due to the lack of sleep. But his husband finally looked happy and relaxed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As he walked the short distance from his car to the fire, where his husband was sitting playing guitar, he pulled himself together. The song sounded familiar but he was happier to see Michael looking much more relaxed that he had in the last month. He listened as he realised that the notes being played were from </span>
  <em>
    <span>Summer of ‘69</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“When’d you get here?” Michael asked a minute later when Kyle moved closer so as  to hopefully manage to kiss Michael. Michael had been distant since everything had happened with Noah, Rosa and Max. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just a couple of minutes ago, Cowboy. I’m glad to see you playing again,” Kyle replied as his husband stood up, the guitar was held in his left hand. “You look more relaxed,” he never got a chance to continue his observation as Michael pulled him in for a kiss. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” Michael whispered against his lips before pulling back and looking at him. “But I think it’s time for you to sleep.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
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